While I(We) Wait

Originally this Topic was titled “Manual Labor While I Wait For My GF Email…Dan…” but upon finishing it I realized that a lot of us probably have stories of things we made, things the GF could have made much easier. So I wanted to share one of mine, and hear/read some of yours.

Anyways, I commute via bike to work, both because exercise is good, and I’m poor.
After involuntarily participating in Ryan (Human Form) vs Truck (Ford F150 Form) in 2009, I’ve learned to appreciate safety and making yourself noticeable.

Recently my bike headlight broke, the company sent me a new one and said that I did not need to return the broken one, I broke that bad boy open and found the wire that had broken and fixed it.

Now two headlights would be obnoxious (These things are bright!) but, what about a new brighter taillight?
So because I’m still waiting on my super fancy pew pew laser, I grabbed some red transparent acrylic and traced the glass. I then used a jewelers saw to trace that circle (cause the pew pew email hasn’t come in yet)
and Boom, I now have an obnoxious taillight.

So, what does this have to do with GF? Well:
A. I look forward to the Glowforge giving me the ability to do this in less time and making a perfect cut circle rather than my “Close Enough” circle.
B. I plan to use the GF to engrave on the acrylic, this would not only diffuse some of the obnoxious light, but I could add a cool design.

So, yeah… That’s my “While I Wait…” story. What’s yours?

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My daughter rolls her eyes and mutters about scissors being acceptable when I use the laser to make perfect fitting 8 or 9 inch parchment circles for cake pans. :slightly_smiling_face:

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next time she says that ask her to cut a perfectly fitting piece of parchment. i bake all the time and 100% want to use the laser for that :V

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Psss… Scissors, what is this, the 90’s? :unamused:

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I did. She said it didn’t have to be perfect. I pointed out that if it could be perfect it should be :slight_smile:

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not to mention you could cut a few dozen in a row and keep 'em in a drawer.

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My “while we wait” story is also an upcycle in a way. Had a roommate who somehow cracked a bathroom mirror–a horizontal crack going about 12" in from the side. Rather than spend a ton of cash on a new mirror, yesterday I just chose to make it a themed bathroom with $4 of vinyl and a Silhouette cutter. :grin:

The shower curtain topper is going to be the exploding Tardis fabric…that’s today’s project. :slight_smile:

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Brilliant! Plus with the light (on the wall, I’m assuming) right above the light cutout of the Tardis, it gives off the appearance that the Tardis’ light is illuminating. :+1:

I’m all for Creative Fixes, even more so when they double as smart Budgeting Fixes.
Thank your for sharing so that I was not alone haha.

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Dang…didnt even think of that…I guess I’ll be bringing my parchment to the office tomorrow…:grinning:

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I feel ya. I make prototypes for engineers all day. I have numerous ones…everyday.
I am so excited to not only simplify my life, but make better looking and precise items with my Glowforge.
here’s some recent examples:
working “gears” out of plexiglass, really hard to make perfect circles by hand on a belt sander

Hundreds of little plexiglass buildings, I don’t even want to do the math on how long these took to cut out by hand.

every year we make a ton of these balsa bridges, would love to have laser cut trusses designed by the students.

our civil students like doing topographic representations of projects they work on

these are custom designed planes that really fly, much bigger than you think. there are a lot of little unique pieces of wood in there.

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Yeah but then she wouldn’t get tweaked as often :slight_smile: One of the primary duties of parents is to make their kids roll their eyes and sigh :smile:

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true but it would let you make them more ridiculous. perhaps lightly scoring all the reasons laser cut parchment is better…

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oooo…that’s excellent. A little engraving to go with the perfect circle :slight_smile:

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While I wait… I make more cakes… and balance more books and do more variance analysis. Lol

PS, You can buy parchment paper circles for cake pans lol but what’s the fun in that when you have a laser!

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exaaactly.

your cakes are really wonderful! did you do the flowers out of sugar paste? they’re very well done; i want to learn how to do that sometime.

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Thanks so much!!! The flowers are actually made from Wafer Paper - taste kind of like rice paper.
Really easy - Youtube Video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQTLeOc1Syc

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ah! what a clever thing.

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Well if your job is to make prototypes I envy you excessively. I can understand how the GF will help tremendously, but I have to say you seem to be doing amazing work without it, I hope to see what you end up making when you get yours.

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My shop does fondant/gumpaste flowers as well but they are more expensive since they last longer. (More labour intensive)

Like this:

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Awesome Cakes! Will your GF help cut shapes and decorations for them? I don’t know much about cakes other than how to eat them.

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